After more than four months negotiating terms with the District of Squamish, the Farmers' Market has finally been granted permission to spill out onto Cleveland Ave. with entertainment and community booths starting Aug. 14.
The market has exceeded expectations this summer, hosting between 45 and 50 vendors on a weekly basis and attracting tourists off the highway, said market president Bill Brumpton.
"The largest day so far we've had 55 vendors and that makes us a pretty big market in comparison to other markets out there," he said. "This year and last year the market just took off."
And they're looking for an exciting way to wrap it up, according to market manager Carolyn Morris.
"We wanted to plan some things to continue purpose of market," said Morris, "which is to bring together the community, celebrate the community and the bounty of local produce this time of year."
Brumpton said it was a long drawn out process to get district approval but thinks it will be worth the effort. They were given permission to use the street for August and September but are only planning to use three weekends.
In years to come, the market might need to use the street space, if they're allowed, for more vendors.
"We're getting up there in size to the point where we probably will have to turn away vendors next year unless we have more space," said Brumpton. "Obviously our priority is local producers first, but we don't want to turn anyone away.
Bhangra dancers, a bouncy castle and musicians are only a few ideas being tossed around, and market organizers are also inviting community groups to set up booths in the street.
"We'll have something going on Aug. 14, 21 and 28," said Morris, "all three dates we'll have a bouncy castle and we're thinking a theme for each week would work well."
She said the first weekend will likely be a casual community celebration with music and community booths using the street space.
The second weekend, Aug. 21, is slated be a "dancing in the streets" party according to Morris.
"Hopefully we can get out some bhangra dancers, some folk dancers and some break dancers together," she said.
On Aug. 28 the street theme will be a tomato festival, complete with tomato tossing, a tomato gallery and salsa dancing.
He hopes the street entertainment will end the summer portion of the market with a bang.
"We're quite excited about it and hoping to put on a good show," he said.
The Farmers' Market is expected to run until Oct. 9 and Carolyn Morris is looking for any entertainment volunteers or community groups who want to participate to contact her at 604-815-0928.
